Cisco has announced it will help
engineers, developers, partners and customers embrace a monumental change in
how networks are built and managed—preparing the industry for the transition to
digital-ready networks. Cisco is also building on the intersection between
security and networking with new technologies designed to simplify branch
office security and make it more effective.
In March, Cisco launched the
Digital Network Architecture (Cisco DNA)—a radical new approach to networking
designed for the digital era. As customers embrace mobility, cloud, analytics
and the Internet of Things (IoT) to digitize their business, IT teams are
struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing complexity of the network,
sophistication of security attacks and growing customer expectations. Cisco
realized that traditional networks simply could not scale to meet the
increasing demands of the digital business. A new network was needed for the
digital era. A network designed from the ground up to be flexible, programmable
and open. Cisco DNA helps IT address these demands by moving networking
from hardware-centric to software-driven, from manual to automated, and from
reactive to adaptive.
"Organizations need to address the expanding
threat landscape across mobility and cloud, while facing increasingly
sophisticated security attacks,” says Jeff Reed, senior vice president,
Networking Infrastructure and Solutions at Cisco. “With DNA, Cisco is
reinventing how we secure networks for the digital era by embedding advanced
security capabilities into a single network architecture. But technology alone
isn’t enough. We are also preparing IT professionals with new skills, training
network-savvy developers and helping customers navigate the journey to
digital-ready networks."
Effective Security Starts with the Network
Using the network to elevate threat visibility and
enforcement is one of the key tenants of Cisco DNA. Today, Cisco is introducing
three new technologies that embed security into the branch office
infrastructure to provide greater protection to the business:
· Umbrella Branch gives organizations simple, fast and comprehensive
security at their branches by putting them in control. After activating the
software on Cisco’s popular branch office router, the Cisco ISR 4000 Series, IT
can apply content filtering and block malware, phishing, and C2 callbacks
before these threats can reach the network—even when offices connect directly
to the Internet.
· Stealthwatch
Learning Network License extends Cisco’s market leading
network as a sensor and enforcer capability for branch-level threat
detection and response. The software resides on the Cisco ISR 4000 Series
and offers new adaptive security anomaly detection technology. The solution
works by analyzing data only available on the network device to
identify malicious traffic and instantly protect branch network from immediate
threats.
· Meraki MX
Security Appliances with AMP and Threat Grid make it simpler than ever to deploy and
manage advanced threat protection capabilities. This integration combines the
streamlined cloud management of Meraki with best-in-class threat protection,
enabling administrators to rapidly detect, contain, and remediate threats.
Beyond Technology Innovation
To turn the Cisco DNA vision into reality, Cisco is
rallying its vast global ecosystem—from customers and engineers to partners and
developers – to build the skills necessary to scale, secure, and innovate on
digital-ready networks.
· Network Engineers: Cisco certified networking engineers build and operate
the world’s most sophisticated networks. As the network becomes more automated
and software-driven, these engineers must expand their programmability skills
and deliver more value to the enterprise. Cisco is upgrading its career
certification portfolio to help fill that rapidly growing need — including a new Cisco Certified Internetwork
Expert (CCIE) framework that is being launched across all expert-level
certifications along with a new Cisco Network
Programmability Engineer Specialist Exam.
· Application Developers: As the network becomes more open and programmable, the
developer community will become critical, unlocking the potential of Cisco DNA
with a new generation of network-aware applications. DNA is a key element of
DevNet—Cisco’s 300,000 strong development community. Here in Las Vegas, Cisco
held a two-day event designed as a springboard for developers wanting to
leverage the interfaces to rapidly program and pull analytics off of network
controllers and devices. The event sold out almost immediately, and was viewed
as a resounding success. Cisco plans to roll out similar events globally over
the next year.
· Channel Partners: After years of building hardware-centric networks,
Cisco’s 70,000 channel partners are evolving to flexible networks driven by
software. Over the years, Cisco and its partners have evolved through numerous
market transitions together. Now, Cisco is helping partners evolve their
networking practices, develop new skills and open up business opportunities
around automation, analytics and security. Cisco
continues to offer partner incentive programs and has designed new software
business roles within our existing Partner Ecosystem to help accelerate this
transition.
The Journey to Digital-Ready Networks
Cisco is helping IT customers navigate the journey to
a digital-ready network by introducing a network readiness model. The model
identifies the five key elements of network readiness: automation, analytics,
assurance, security, cloud and IoT. This model builds out a customer’s journey
across the five phases, with a new tool helping customers to assess their
current state, followed by recommended steps to better guide their network
transformation.
